Friendship Eternal
by Kitsune Freak
Summary: When all is said and done, Giotto spends the rest his days in Japan thinking back about what could have been. That is, until he gets an unexpected visit from an old friend who might just give him a lingering hope for the future. Not as angsty as it sounds


KitsuneFreak: Guilty! This was what I had been working on and is mostly the reason why I'm a bit behind in posting my fics. Sorry! This particular one had been eating away at my mind for the past couple of weeks already and I just know that if I don't put it down somewhere, I will implode. More likely is the fact that it will invade my other stories for its public conquest – like right now.

This would be my attempt at a really serious fic. Fun. Watch me try to keep my serious emotions in check. Yeah, you probably will be chuckling every so often. I'm tagging this under family in addition to angst now. XD

I tweaked and played with Daemon's character because I **still** don't think he's a prick through and through. Happy Halloween~!

Disclaimer: {is still relatively pissed off at the subber's mistranslation of Giotto's line in the manga to care… 'my beloved' my butt!}

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom….}

It was one of those hot Japanese summer days – one of the many that the former Primo boss of the Vongola family was starting to get used to. After traveling and ultimately retiring in the Oriental country, he couldn't help but feel occasional pangs of regret. Life was going great for him now. He settled down, got an alias, and even started a new family with a lovely wife and an adorable baby son who just learned to waddle. More often than not he wondered if he _had_ done the right thing.

'_Was it okay to leave him alone back there in Italy like that?_'

G, being his best friend and right hand man decided to move into Japan with him. Asari did the same, primarily because he had practically lived there for most of his life. Knuckles did so at first but left every so often so that he could overlook the conditions of the natural inhabitants of the country. He may not have preached about God all the time, but he did want to see if he could be of service to this new land. Alaude flitted about and could rarely be pinned down to one place and the same could be said for Lampo – except for the fact that the green-haired man often had better reasons for leaving (or so he claimed).

As Giotto rested his head on his hand to look outside of the open window, he looked back down to the letter that he had been trying to write. Pure and peaceful silence was more common in his home now – minus the occasional wailing that came from the toddler whenever he toppled over. Giotto merely sighed as he looked at the half-written note.

'_That leaves just one more._'

Straightening up, the man perused over the words on the page before crumpling it up and tossing it away; however, a familiar sensation stopped any further movement once the item was released from his hand. It landed far from its intended target.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Giotto allowed a small smile to curl on one side before masking it in a serious countenance. Turning, he looked out the seemingly empty window.

"You know as well as I do that there's no point in hiding if I'm aware of where you are."

"Figures that your annoying intuition is still intact."

Giotto raised his eyebrow in amusement as he saw his former Mist Guardian materialize right before his eyes. Even after a few years, the former boss noted, Daemon Spade hadn't changed all that much from the time they were still working together.

"What can I say? It's just a convenient habit, especially when people like _you_ show up," the blonde man lifted his arms in a blasé manner. He tried his best to not drop his façade and just laugh at Daemon's familiar antics.

"Oh? You miss me?"

"Shouldn't _I _be asking that? You're the one who showed up at my window."

Daemon rolled his eyes and snorted at the comment. "I found it necessary to deal with some fools who crossed Secondo. It seems as though they chose to hide away in Japan."

"Now would I be included in that category?" Giotto asked innocently.

The Mist Guardian rolled his eyes again and sighed in annoyance.

"As in, I _dealt_ with them already, unless you're offering something that I don't know of which," Daemon pointed his finger threateningly at the seated man, "I doubt."

Lowering his hand, Daemon cleared his throat and an awkward silence fell between the two of them.

"So," Giotto attempted to start. "How's Ricardo? We weren't exactly seeing eye to eye when I left… other than the fact that he would become Secondo."

"Perfectly fine. Everything's good without your merciful weaknesses."

"Well, uh, that's good to hear."

Daemon's eyes trailed over to the crumpled note on the floor inside the room.

"What's the letter for?"

Giotto chuckled slightly as he looked back at his missed shot. "Nothing important, now that I can talk to my recipient in person."

"Long-winded, wordy and unnecessary as usual. It appears as though some things never change."

"And neither do you."

"Well, I'll have you kno—"

At this particular moment, the door behind Giotto creaked open slightly. The Mist Guardian's alert eyes darted to the door and he involuntarily tensed. The former boss on the other hand merely closed his eyes and gave an amused sigh. Turning to face the disturbance, he waited patiently and was rewarded with a little blonde head poking out from behind the screen door.

"Otou-san?"

The toddler's grip on the screen was so tight that his knuckles were white. Placing one foot slowly before the other, he wobbled his way forward. His hands never left the screen door – it seemed as though the child felt that if he didn't hold on for dear life, then he couldn't move without its existence. However, as fate would have it for the poor child, he had to leave the screen in order to reach his father. Giotto obligingly strode over to hold his hand so that at least the terrified child had something to grab on to.

"Hey, Yoshimune," Giotto cooed softly, putting the child upon his knee. "What are you doing up? You're supposed to be napping."

The little boy shook his head forcefully while attempting to rub the sleep away from his eyes. Sadly, the child's stubbornly drooping eyes got the better of him.

Daemon, needless to say, stared at the scene playing out before him. Without his own knowledge, his countenance became much softer compared to earlier and his earlier retort was completely forgotten.

"You're in good spirits."

Awoken from his reverie, Daemon immediately wiped whatever smile happened to linger on his face away. It would be a bad idea to show weakness, besides, the real reason that he came to Japan had not been attended to.

"Why didn't you take the power then? We could have become the greatest in the mafia."

Giotto blinked at the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"I didn't want to."

"Why?"

"It's," he stuttered for a moment, "I… I don't want to fight anymore."

"That's _it_?" Daemon spat angrily. "You threw away everything we all started just because of a whim?"

"It... wasn't a whim," Giotto answered back lamely. It was on this subject in particular that he became at a loss for words.

"Daemon, I–" the ex-boss breathed deeply and subconsciously held his son closer to him in a tighter hug. "It sounds selfish but, I don't want to lose what little we have left. Not just myself, I'm talking about everyone. G, Asari, Knuckles… even you."

"Little?" Daemon could not quite grasp what the blonde was talking about. "If you have power and the strength that goes along with it, you can have just about everything you want!"

"Yes, but how long will it take us to realize? Power attracts enemies like flies to a carcass. Whether you believe it or not, we will lose more than we ever started with in the long run."

"How disappointing, for that's still foolish talk."

"Daemon, there is still time. You know, you could always quit and live with all of us here"

A silence fell between them as Daemon was suddenly lost in thought.

"I can't," Daemon said quietly.

"But—"

"There is too much blood on my hands."

"It's on all our hands Daemon, you're not the only one."

"I feel nothing anymore, and odds are, I can't even cry for the dead as atonement even if I wanted to, which I don't of course."

"At least you still remember that you once knew how to," Giotto replied reaching his free hand out imploringly.

"Would that make any difference?"

"Look at all of us. You're not the only one trying to cope and frankly speaking, I don't think you have to continue as Ricardo's Mist Guardian."

"Why not?" Daemon retorted angrily. "You think that just because you've built one of the most promising organizations that you can suddenly turn your back on it? Who's to see it through?"

"But, we had already fallen so far from where we wanted to be."

"And that's the real reason why you left? It became too hard, so why not throw the responsibility of cleaning it up to someone else? Why am I the only one trying?"

"But your means—"

"Everyone has a different way of doing things, does that make me wrong? I've dealt with your pitiable methods and have I _once_ tried to change that?"

"How then? Now that the deed has been done, I _can't_ go back. You're right, maybe I am too foolish. I've cut off all my pathways to even try to fix my own problems."

"You have your son."

"And have him and even his children carry the sins we created? What if, years later, the to-be-successor doesn't want all that? I can't impose a fate on someone else."

"Giotto, even if you don't acknowledge this fact, it won't change the reality behind it. Sooner or later, it _will_ happen – whether it will be in ten years or a hundred years."

"It's just…"

"Just _what_?"

At this point, Yoshimune stirred in his slumber and turned a little to curl up into a tighter ball on his father's lap. Giotto absent-mindedly patted the little blonde head to make sure that he was still sleeping.

"Well," Daemon started with a smirk, "I still have to prepare the throne for you son, don't I?"

Shooting his Mist Guardian a stern glare Giotto muttered, "I left for Japan just so that he _wouldn't_ be dragged into the mafia."

"Although, they'd probably give him a whole lot of trouble for being half-Oriental. Half's don't seem to be all that welcomed."

"Daemon…" Giotto warned.

"You can't deny it though. At some point, your children down the line will be involved," the Mist Guardian's face took on a mask of indifference.

"I know…" Giotto stared sullenly at the blonde fuzz of his son's hair before finally resting his chin on it lightly.

"Let's make sure that when he does succeed the Vongola that he won't be a completely useless and lenient fool like you."

"Hey!"

"Then again, if he's carrying your blood… I can't be so sure," Daemon smirked wickedly.

As a companionable silence fell between them once more, the Mist Guardian gave a final sigh and rested his scepter on his shoulders. Pulling a golden pocket watch from a pouch that hung by his side, he clicked it open to read the time. Giotto smiled slightly at his friend's unspoken faith in him.

"Is that the same one I gave you?"

"I don't keep it for sentimental purposes. It has its uses."

Clicking it shut, he replaced the item and turned to look at the horizon behind him while resting both of his hands over the horizontal scepter on his shoulders.

"Will we be seeing you again?"

"We'll see. It probably will depend on if I have any more jobs to do in Japan."

"Well, take care."

"Whatever – so long as you hold up on your end of this bargain."

"I'm still against it, you know."

"Shall we all meet up a hundred years later to check on our progress?"

"Che, as if that would ever happen, Daemon."

"You never know."

Turning, the Mist Guardian leisurely walked across the grass – past the trees in the direction of the distant horizon. Yoshimune chose that particular moment to wake up from his slumber. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked in confusion before tilting his head upwards at his father.

"You know Uncle Asari and the others, and how I told you there was one more that you haven't met yet?"

"Mhmm?"

"Well, that would be your Uncle Daemon."

{Badger, Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom….}

KitsuneFreak: Kyaa~ The idea of a baby version of Giotto was too cute to pass up on. And plus, I don't think there has ever been a story with a 'parent-Giotto' scenario (well, okay, I take that back, there _are_ except it's like an AU where Tsuna's the kid). I confess, family themes are the cutest ever.

XD Uncle Daemon. That is a fun thought… and then of course there's Uncle Alaude…and G.

Yeah. This was my attempt at angst. Real angsty. (hear my sarcasm, yet?)

Anyway, hope this was enjoyable~

Please review!

(Because I really want to know what you think about my particular fail-attempt at this genre, you mind giving me pointers? And no, don't say stuff like 'MAKE HIM CUT HIMSELF', now _that_ is lame)


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